These Broken Stars
Synopsis Tarver and Lilac meet aboard the Icarus, in a scene straight out of Titanic. Lilac snubs Tarver even though she likes him because of her over protective father who’s not very kind to boys who get close to Lilac. While the Icarus is crashing, and Lilac is separated from her guards and about to die, Tarver saves her and they get to an escape pod, which Lilac manages to hot wire. They crash land on a terraformed planet that seems to be uninhabited by humans. Their pod is damaged beyond repair, and their unable to send any signal light or beacon to rescuers. To make themselves more visible, they decide to trek to the Icarus’s crash site. Tarver come across another crashed escape pod, with no survivors, and buries them, without showing Lilac the bodies. Few nights later, Lilac wakes up hearing a woman crying out in the distance. They search for the source, but are unable to find anyone, and after a while, the sobbing stops. Tarver and Lilac slowly become friends, and Tarver tells her about his family, and how badly he wants to return to his parents. They discover the planet has a set of artificial moons, seven in all, which they predict are actually orbital mirrors designed to direct more sunlight to the planet. Lilac’s encounters with the whispers become increasingly frequent, but Tarver hears nothing. He fears that she may be losing her mind. She sees the crash victims whom Tarver buried, and thinks she’s being haunted, but Tarver lies to her about them, and she knows he’s lying. They stop for the night in a cave in the mountains. Lilac wakes up suddenly, convinced that they have to leave immediately or else they’d die.She claims that the whispers told her so. Tarver resists, but when she runs with his bag, he’s forced to follow. Just as they clear the entrance of the cave, an avalanche blocks the entrance, trapping most of their supplies inside. When they are almost to the crash site, they both see a vision of Tarver’s house in the valley, exactly as he described it earlier. Tarver believes he’s hallucinating, but Lilac knows that deep down he knows it’s the whispers, and that he has to believe her now. Lilac theorizes that they are extraterrestrial beings who are trying to convey something to them. As they go further, Tarver’s water canteen materializes out of thin air; the same one he lost in the avalanche. He believes that something is out there in the planet. Tarver & Lilac get to the crash site, and explore the Icarus, in the process of which, Tarver cuts his palm and falls sick a few days later. Lilac spends two days searching for the ship’s sick bay, where she finds antibiotics. At her lowest moment, the whispers make a flower appear near her to boost her morale, the same flower that Tarver had given her while they were traveling. Tarver gets better on the third day. They set out to find a place to stay, and the whispers lead them to a building that’s locked up tight. They find a cave nearby for shelter, where they confess their love for each other. Lilac proposes they blow up the entrance to the building explosives. Lilac is caught in the explosion and dies after being pierced by shrapnel. After burying her, Tarver is haunted by her image, presented to him by the whispers. The next day, he sees her again, but this time, she’s for real. The whispers have brought her back, but to be here is torture for her, painful in every sense. They enter the building and find that it was Lilac’s father’s company, LaRoux Industries, which terraformed the planet. The whispers lead them to a locked chamber in the basement, but they don't know the password to open it. When exploring the lab, they find reports of energy based, non corporeal life forms, able to do temporary energy-matter conversion, from which they come to the conclusion that the things the whispers bring back are only temporary. There are also reports of a dimensional rift and of subjects showing telepathic abilities. Lilac figures out the password to the chamber – her name, and broadcasts a distress signal. They also find a hazardous zone with pulsating which is the dimensional rift. The whispers take the form of Tarver’s dead brother, Alec, and come to him. They claim to be extraterrestrial beings who were cut off from their people and kept trapped by the dimensional rift. It is their power that is sustaining the station and the distress signal. Tarver stops the distress signal to save Lilac, but finds that ships in orbit have already picked up on it. Tarver jumps into the dimensional rift with Lilac in his arms, hoping to save her life, since it’s full of energy. The ET beings are freed, and Lilac is saved, and no longer feels like she’s in between life and death. The ships land and take them aboard, and their soon transferred to one of Roderick LaRoux’s vessels, where they are thoroughly interrogated and examined. Lilac tells her father that she won't leave Tarver, but he refuses to listen to her, saying that they only needed each other. It’s only when Lilac threatens to expose to the media everything that he did on the planet that he relents. The story ends with Lilac and Tarver watching from a window the planet exploding as the ships destroyed it. Chapter Side Story Transcript: Interrogator: When did you first meet Miss LaRoux? Tarver: Three days before the accident. Interrogator: And how did that come about? Tarver: The accident? Interrogator: Meeting Miss LaRoux. Tarver: How could it possibly matter? Interrogator: Major, everything matters. Interrogator: You next encountered her...? Tarver: The day of the accident. Interrogator: What were your intentions at that stage? Tarver: I had none. Interrogator: Why not? Tarver: You’re joking, right? Interrogator: Major, we aren’t here to entertain you. Tarver: I found out who she was. That is was over before I even said hello. Interrogator: You next saw her when the incident occurred? Tarver: That’s correct. Interrogator: Did you try to figure out what was happening? Tarver: You’re not military, you don’t understand how we work. I’m not supposed to ask questions. I was just following orders. Interrogator: What orders were those? Tarver: We had a duty to protect civilians. Interrogator: So there wasn’t a specific order that drove your decision. Tarver: Now you’re nitpicking. Interrogator: We’re being exact, Major. We’d appreciate it if you tried to do the same. Interrogator: So you knew which escape pod was yours? Tarver: Yes. Interrogator: Did she? Tarver: Know which was mine? Interrogator: Know her own, Major. Please cooperate. Tarver: I suppose she did. I don’t know. Interrogator: But neither of you ended where you were supposed to be. Tarver: Some of the passengers didn’t handle the evacuation well. Interrogator: What did you think was happening at the point? Tarver: I didn’t know. There was no communication equipment in the pod. Interrogator: You didn’t try to guess? Tarver: We’re trained to work with solid information. Interrogator: But you had none? Tarver: No. Interrogator: What was your plan? Tarver: Sit tight and hope. There was nothing to do except wait. Interrogator: And see what happened next? Tarver: And see what happened next. Interrogator: You’ve been in survival situations before. Tarver: That’s true. Interrogator: But never like this? Tarver: I never had a debutante in tow, if that’s what you mean. Interrogator: I meant that you didn’t kn ow where you were at that stage. Tarver: I wasn’t focused on that. Interrogator: What were you focused on, Major? Tarver: Working out where the landing party would land, and getting there. Interrogator: And that was all? Tarver: What else was there Interrogator: That’s what we’d like you to tell us. Interrogator: At that stage your expectations was that you would be rescued promptly? Tarver: I was with Miss LaRoux. I imagined she’d be their top priority. Interrogator: What did you make of your companion? Tarver: It was a change of pace from a platoon. Interrogator: That was not a substantive response, Major Merendsen. Tarver: I hadn’t had long to form an opinion. The situation wasn’t ideal. Interrogator: For you or her? Tarver: For either of us. Do you know anyone who’d have been pleased in our places? Interrogator: We’ll ask the questions, Major. Interrogator: What did Miss LaRoux think of the situation? Tarver: I didn’t ask her. Interrogator: What was your impression, then, of the way Miss LaRoux was coping? Tarver: Better than expected. Interrogator: What were your views of the planet at this stage? Tarver: Obviously it was in the advanced stages of terraforming. We were waiting for rescue teams to arrive. Interrogator: What made you so sure they’d come? Tarver: Why spend the resources to terraform a planet if you’re not going to profit from the colonies? We were sure Steelers would have seen the Icarus crash, and somebody would be along to investigate. Interrogator: Your key concerns at that stage? Tarver: Well, Miss LaRoux had a party she didn’t want to miss, and I- Interrogator: Major, you don’t seem to understand the seriousness of your situation. Tarver: Sure I do. What the hell do you think our key concerns were? Interrogator: Did you have any goal other than reaching the crash site? Tarver: You make it sound as though I conspired to get myself landed on the planet. Interrogator: And why would you do that? Tarver: That’s my point. We wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Interrogator: Very well. What happened next/ Interrogator: The situation was foreign to Miss LaRoux. Tarver: Yes, though I had some experience handling civilians in the field. Interrogator: Ah, yes. The intelligence and research teams on Patron. Tarver: Yes. Interrogator: What was your assessment of her state during that part of the walk? Tarver: I thought she was handling all right. Interrogator: There were no disagreements? Tarver: No, we were getting on fine. Interrogator: At that stage had you reached the plains? Tarver: No, we camped in the woods that night. We didn’t make much progress those first few days. Can I get something to eat? Interrogator: In good time, Major. How was Miss LaRoux’s emotional state? Tarver: Still stable. Interrogator: Nothing of note happened when you camped that night? Tarver: If you’d tell me what kind of thing of note you’re wondering about, I’m sure I could be more help. Interrogator: Are you saying that nothing unusual happened? Tarver: Nothing at all. Interrogator: So then you made your way across the plains toward the mountains? Tarver: That’s correct. Interrogator: What were your thoughts at this stage? Tarver: It was clear we were unlikely to find other survivors, but I remained alert. I didn’t expect them to be kindly disposed toward a LaRoux, if they were around. Interrogator: Why is that? Tarver: Her father built the ship we’d been on. Terraforming companies are rarely popular with the colonists, and you know as well as I do that Central sends in the troops to back up the corporations’ rights. Colonists hate us, too. Interrogator: Did you have any other thoughts? Tarver: I was beginning to wonder why we weren’t seeing rescue flyovers. Interrogator: Did you mention that to Miss LaRoux? Tarver: No. Interrogator: Sudden trauma can manifest in any number of ways. Tarver: That’s true. We received extensive training. Interrogator: Did you notice any of those manifestations in Miss LaRoux? Tarver: No. well, only that she was off her food, but i think that was an objection to the ration bars, mostly. Not quite what she was used to. Interrogator: Otherwise nothing? Tarver: That’s what I said. Are you having trouble understanding my answers? Interrogator: We just want to be certain, Major. Exact. Tarver: Any chance you can tell me exactly how much longer this is going to last. Interrogator: Until we have the answers we require. Interrogator: The two of you were becoming closer. Tarver: And? Interrogator: Can you confirm it? Tarver: You made a statement, I thought you already knew it was true. Interrogator: Can you elaborate on how that came about? Tarver: I thought the purpose of this debrief was to discuss my impressions of the planet. Interrogator: The purpose of the debriefing is for you to answer whatever questions we choose to ask you, Major. We’re asking about Miss LaRoux. Tarver: What was the question again? Interrogator: Never mind. We can come back to it. Tarver: I look forward to that. Interrogator: Every planet has it eccentricities. Tarver: That’s true. Interrogator: What did you notice about this one? Tarver: The lack of company. Interrogator: Major, that’s unhelpful. Tarver: I’m not trying to be unhelpful. I noticed it was a terraforned planet with no sign of local population. I’ve been involved in six campaigns in two years. I never saw a planet without people before. Interrogator: What did you think of your prospects? Tarver: I was realistic about them. I’m realistic about them right now too. Interrogator: I thought you said the rain was on the third day. Tarver: No, that was the first time it rained. Interrogator: You’re contradicting yourself, Major. Tarver: No, you’re trying to trip me up. I know how this works. The military invented these techniques. What’s your next question?